


Gilded Cage

by Aeriel



Category: The Chronicles of Chrestomanci - Diana Wynne Jones
Genre: Gen, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-30
Updated: 2015-06-30
Packaged: 2018-04-07 00:27:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4242510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeriel/pseuds/Aeriel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Queen Gwendolen is not happy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gilded Cage

**Author's Note:**

  * For [possibilityleft](https://archiveofourown.org/users/possibilityleft/gifts).



> Set not long after Charmed Life.

Gwendolen glared at her reflection, and hoped that somewhere, across worlds, other Gwendolens were getting the chills because of her.  
  
It was a very nice reflection, apart from that, in an gold encrusted mirror that took up a whole wall. Gwendolen might have admired it if she weren't utterly sick of the sight of it and everything else in this dratted room.  
  
"Now I know why those fools were so surprised to see me every morning," Gwendolen muttered. "That Queen Caroline had the right idea, trying to escape. It's just like horrid Chrestomanci Castle in here, only they're better at pretending to care what you say and they call you _Your Majesty_ before they lock you up."  
  
She wasn't particularly worried about being overheard, since there wasn't anyone to overhear her. She'd gotten rid of the first two sets of guards they sent her, and though they assured her she was far too important not to be "looked after," the fact remained that at this moment, Gwendolen was alone, and she had nothing better to do than hope the other Gwendolens were suffering too.  
  
Having people around to vent her feelings at was something, at least, even if her magic had been spread far too thin trying to come up with satisfying ways to punish them that were within her now frustratingly limited means. After all, it was easy to give someone boils or a rash or turn their hair white temporarily, but it was easy for a reason, and the reason was that it was _boring._ Everyone knew that those things went away, and any reasonably magical child could do it.  
  
No, if Gwendolen was going to waste valuable time and energy on these useless nobodies, she was going to do it properly, even if she wasn't able to exercise her full creativity at the moment.  
  
So when the first two weren't looking, Gwendolen hid underneath the bed and conjured up an illusion of herself lying dead on the floor.  
  
Gwendolen wasn't able to hold it for very long, but in a way that made it even better. The corpse flickering in and out of existence and then going away altogether left the men terrified and confused, and utterly unable to explain what they'd seen to anyone else. She would have liked to snuff out all the candles too, but she simply didn't have the strength, unless she got up and blew them out one by one herself, but that would have rather spoiled the effect.  
  
The next day Gwendolen had no energy left for magic, so she settled for using a candle to set a chair on fire (this was more difficult than she'd imagined, since most of the chair was solid gold, but the cushion on it eventually caught) and hurling it at the guards. Disappointingly that proved to be all the scaredy-cats could handle, and she got two new guards the day after that.  
  
Gwendolen thought about making their hair fall out, but she wasn't sure she could manage it, and just giving them bald spots would make her look pathetic, which she was most certainly not. She thought about making the air around them cold, which she might have been able to do but it was a lot of magic for something that they could easy shrug off if they had winter coats with their fancy uniforms. Finally, she hit upon an idea.  
  
There was a bathroom connected to Gwendolen's prison, of course. And there were plenty of things around that she could fill with water. So she filled them all up in the bathroom and levitated them out to the guards.  
  
The guards laughed at her.  
  
Furious, Gwendolen hurled the water at them with all her might, and just as the water hit, plunged the temperature down to freezing with the rest of her magical strength.  
  
"Who's ridiculous now?" Gwendolen sneered at the guards, who were half icicles and shivering desperately.  
  
They didn't give her guards again for a long time then.  
  
Gwendolen begun really thinking about escape. It wouldn't have been hard to get out the door, only it would take her forever to get outside again and she'd probably run into at least a dozen people first who could hold her down and drag her back in. The window made much more sense as an escape route, but she was high enough up that just jumping would be suicide and Gwendolen couldn't count on her magic cushioning her fall long enough or letting her fly long enough to get to safety.  
  
And where was safety, anyway? If Gwendolen couldn't succeed as a _queen_ , what in the world was left?  
  
It would have to be this world, too, at least for now. She'd felt Cat slamming the portal shut behind her, and now that he'd gone and started _using_ his magic he probably had the resources to figure out how to block off the other worlds too. Chrestomanci would make sure of that.  
  
That was when Gwendolen decided to steal the guards' magic.  
  
She'd been so pleased when the third set finally came. They weren't particularly notable in any way, these guards, not like the ones she'd had before. Gwendolen could tell right away that they were the bottom of the heap, the only ones that couldn't say no to an assignment no one wanted. They had magic, but they weren't used to using it without being told.  
  
They were perfect.

One of them put up a little resistance when she began winding out his magic, but no one had ever taught him how to defend himself properly, and by the time he was really struggling, Gwendolen had enough of his magic to use it to subdue him.

With three times the magic she'd had before, it was no trouble for Gwendolen to turn herself into a hawk and fly out the window. She wasn't leaving for good, not really. But if she was going to be a queen, she was going to be the real Queen, not just a pretty face to put on the money.

And to do that, she needed more.


End file.
